The ZVEI has welcomed the agreement on the federal budget in a statement. However, Wolfgang Weber, Chairman of the ZVEI Management Board, emphasised in a press release issued by the association that the announcements must be quickly followed by concrete measures. Although the agreement makes the association optimistic, the flexibilisation of electricity consumption in particular must now be implemented quickly.
"The agreement on the 2025 federal budget is cause for optimism. The federal government is showing that the major economic and social challenges of our time can be addressed in a targeted manner from the political centre. An important building block for this is the growth impetus now planned for companies and the business location," said Weber in a press release.
The agreement on the federal budget must be followed by concrete measures
Overall, the direction of the announced measures is correct. However, it is crucial that the announcements are quickly translated into concrete measures. This applies in particular to electricity prices, which continue to be too high and place a heavy burden on companies and consumers and slow down the climate transformation. It is therefore important that grid costs and grid fees are reduced. A bundle of measures is available for this purpose, some of which can even have a major impact in the short term.
"The focus should be on the flexibilisation of electricity consumption mentioned in the budget agreement. The introduction of flexible grid charges must come quickly. Flexible consumers can demonstrably make an eminently important contribution to security of supply and cost reduction. Depending on the use case, electricity system costs could fall by up to 70 & s," Weber continued.
Following the reduction in electricity tax for industrial companies, it is also important to prepare a reduction for all consumer groups in further steps. Against the backdrop of demographic change and the existing shortage of skilled labour, it is also positive that the federal government is providing important incentives for people who want to work more or for longer. The performance incentives found were a good fit for the association.
Further information is available at www.zvei.org.
